Contemporary Bojagi/Pojagi by Leonie Castelino

Leonie sent me this interesting information about a show with one of her pieces. Wish I could go to San Fran and see this show. www.leoniecastelino.com

‘HOMAGE TO KLEE’, A Work of Art in Contemporary Bojagi by Leonie Castelino, Fiber Artist, will be on display, at the Museum of Craft and Folk Art in San Francisco, California, from June 17 – October 23, 2011.  The international exhibition:  ‘Wrapping Traditions:  Korean Textiles Now’, has 60 works of fiber art from artists all over the world, 31 of them from Korea. For more information, visit www.mocfa.org or call (415) 227-4888.

This exhibition showcases traditional and contemporary Bogaji, or Pojagi, which is an ancient and dying Korean art-form that reached its zenith during the early Choson dynasty (1392-1910). Women of this period were strictly housebound, socially isolated and had no status. Their only expressive outlet was in creating a bojagi of beauty. Salvaged fabrics of silk, cotton or hemp  from clothing or household linen, was pieced together in a mosaic to construct square or rectangle cloths of beauty to wrap and carry household, ceremonial, ritual or treasured items - hence the name ‘wrapping cloth’.  The prevalent folklore was that ‘pok’ or good luck was preserved inside a bojagi.

When a bojagi was created to wrap an offering, a ceremonial document or a gift, infinite care was expended in creating an item of beauty that reflected the reverence of the creator, the respect bestowed on the recipient, and the item.  This contributed to the development of bojagi as an art form. A pieced bojagi is a ‘chogak po’, while an embroidered one is a ‘su po’. Half of all the surviving bojagis today are keepsakes handed down the generations. They have become significant acquisitions by museums around the world.

‘Homage to Klee’ by Leonie Castelino is a Contemporary Pieced Bojagi in layered silk organza with the distinctive bojagi elements of architecture, seams, transparency, color, composition and design.    It measures 24” x 63”. 

 

I think this piece is so beautiful and the layers are captivating!

And the Winners Are…

At the National Quilting Association show, all the quilts were winners but some got ribbons!

Our author, Barbara Olson, who wrote Journey of an Art Quilter had an honorable mention ribbon on this gorgeous quilt!

When I saw it, I whipped out my cell phone to call Barb and she didn’t know that she won so it was a joy to inform her!  As always the detail is incredible and doesn’t show in image.

Then many of you are familiar with my friend, new art quilter, Beth Schillig who seems to win in every show she enters!  This little piece called Mocha Dot was a Sew Batik challenge and she won the sponsor’s award, which made Beth very happy!

This has so much detail and different techniques/stitch work in it that when I first saw it, I kept tracing places with my finger…that’s a sure sign of interesting qualities. Congrats Beth!

Here is another big ribbon winner by Mark Sherman that is inspired by a Louis Comfort Tiffany window and was filled with so much detail…fabulous!

 

This one of a girl holding her chicken was so lifelike and one of my favorites.

 

Snapshot:Shannon’s Bantam by Denise Havlan.

Stay tuned for more of the NQA show in next post. Next year, make sure a stop in Columbus is on your calendar for this show!

Sensational House Sassaman Style

Just back from a few days collaborating with my friend, the fabulous art quilter Jane Sassaman in northern Illinois.  Jane lives in a rural farming area with prairies and plains and this time it was all green from Spring rains and looked super.

There is color everywhere at her house and grounds and so many interesting things to look at.

And inside on the walls are…..what else, QUILTS! beautiful quilts!

And on ‘my bed’ there was a beautiful quilt from Jane’s fabric line by Free Spirit.

There are many very interesting vignettes around the house. Her husband Greg is an artist too (as are her children) so it doesn’t get much better than this!

 

  

I love the way she used the Free Spirit fabric all over the house to cover speakers, chairs, pillows and tiles for the bathroom.

Check out Jane’s blog this week to see us as twins in coordinating shirts of her new fabric line!

It’s very inspiring to be with Jane in her studio and see where the magic happens! And more on why I went there in future blogs...keep following!

Meeting Sue Benner

One of the things I love about my job is  meeting these incredible quilt artists whose work I have admired for a long time. As I have said, this week Quilt Surface Design symposium is on in town and that brings international teachers and students.  This year it is at the Columbus College of Art and Design in the heart of downtown and classes were held in the renovated car showroom/funky building.

As you can see there was plenty of space to spread out and work in Sue Benner’s master class. This class was for one week where you would work on your own pieces but Sue and the others were there to give you some feedback and direction and inspiration. Everyone’s work was so interesting but none wanted their work published on the internet so you will just see Sue’s work.

I met Sue the beginning of the week and we went to Haiku to have sushi dinner al fresco. Mostly we talked about our teen boys, (we both have two), college, driving incidents etc.  She was so easy to talk to that I felt as if I met her before. We have talked on the phone and via email this year but still.

Below are some of Sue’s pieces.

 

And this is the new direction she is doing –inspired by ‘skin’.

It’s worth repeating again but if you can take a class at QSDS, do it! It’s one of the few places where advanced quilters can work on refining their art.

Happiness quilt exhibit

Last week I visited this exhibit at the Riffe center in downtown Columbus, OH. It is works by the current faculty of the Quilt Surface Design Symposium that will be held here the next 2 weeks.

It was a nice small show with some very interesting work. These artists seem to be ones that “push the envelope” and try new techniques.

I found these quilts by Ann Rebele very unusual.

 

It looks like the Eiffel Tower but those vertical lines are postcards cut into half inch slices and applied perpendicular to this image so it needs to be viewed from the side or edges to see the postcard photos or to read what is written on the reverse side.

Isn’t this an interesting 3-D technique to use with fabric?

Below is another quilt on display at this show by Ann Rebele titled Annabelle’s Rose Garden.

 

Funny story, Ann and I live in the same town. I knew of her and had seen her work but never met.  Then last year I was at a reunion for my husband’s old employer and among a hundred or so people, I read Ann’s name tag. I went up to her and said that I knew her and she said that I must be mistaken since she didn’t work for this company was there only for her husband. I asked if she was a quilter and she was surprised that I knew who she was!

Here is the quilt she has at the exhibit in the Pushing the Surface exhibit at the Johnson-Humrickhouse in Coshocton, Ohio. This is Forgotten But Not Gone: Bella.

….and if you get to Quilt National in Athens, Oh, you will see Forgotten But Not Gone: Mary Ester.

Here is Ann with her piece.

Next I’ll go to see what the classes are doing at the Quilt Surface Design Symposium.